Khabib Nurmagomedov began training
at the age of six under the tutelage of his father and by the time of his first
MMA contest he had gained a background in freestyle wrestling judo and combat
Sambo. Before his UFC debut Khabib's matches took place on either an open mat
or in a ring and his early takedown game consisted almost exclusively of shooting
to his knees for a single leg with the head on the inside. The majority of these
shots are taken from outside of striking range of his opponents and made with
minimal setup.
Once he got in on the single leg he would finish them in three
primary ways with the most common of these being the cutback. Next we will see
Ben Askren demonstrate how to finish the single leg shot with the cutback. Once
you have shot in on the single leg and finish by stepping your leg up, raising
your head up to the ceiling, and pulling your opponent's leg up and across your
body. Here we see examples of Khabib using the cut back in his matches. Here
he shoots in on the single leg, lifts his leg up and then drags his opponent's leg
up across his body.
This single leg finish was favoured by Khabib during the
majority of his early matches. If his opponents were able to stand or
maintain balance during the cutback then Khabib would switch to running the pipe.
This is where once you have the single leg you rotate your body with a back
step and as your opponent hops around you
drop your weight onto their thigh to force them to sit down. Here during a
match you can see he's shooting for the single leg rotate his body around and
sit his opponent on their back.
And lastly his third option off the
single-leg was to turn the corner. This is when once you have locked onto the
single leg you start stepping around to the opponent's back, as you make your way
around it is common that your opponent will pull guard but if you turn quicker
than they do then you'll take their back. Here in a match Khabib locks onto
the single leg and as he turns his opponent pulls guard. With this shot
we'll see Khabib chain these techniques together as he shoots in low and
grabs onto a single leg with his head on the inside. He first tries for the cutback,
with that failing he stands and goes to run the pipe, also unsuccessful
eventually turning the corner and taking his opponents back. With a pre-UFC career
consisting almost entirely of single leg shots he would enter the Octagon with a
16-0 record and face a substantial step up in the level of competition.
In his
first outing he would face an accomplished wrestler in Kamal Shalorus and with head position against the cage and a good sprawl was able to defend
Khabibis takedown attempts initially. But after causing damage with strikes he was
able to work his usual strategy of a strong single leg with a cutback finish. But next he would face his toughest
challenger to date. Gleison Tibau a physically imposing veteran of over 50
fights and holding an impressive 92 percent takedown defense statistic.
During the contest Khabib applied his usual takedown strategy but had every
single leg attempt defended. Overall he went 0 of 13 takedown attempts. Using the
fence to keep his balance Tibau was able to defend against the cutback, running
the pipe, turning the corner and any other technique that Khabib applied.
Although Khabib still won a close decision victory that split opinions* a weakness in his
strategy had been revealed.
After that fight Khabib would switch his USA training camp
to American Kickboxing Academy and his next attempt at takedowns would see a
new strategy employed. Against Abel Trujillo he would look for an upper body
clinch to take the back and secure a body lock he would then execute a series
of troop sweeps and throws. If you're interested in learning more about this
mat return strategy you can view my other study which goes in-depth on this
topic.
Using this new strategy against Abel Trujilio
he set the UFC record for the most takedowns in a match with 21 and all of
this without any of its previously utilized single leg shots. Where he had once been relentless in
shooting for single legs he was now persistent in securing upper
body clinches body locks and taking the back. With these clinches he would now also
use a strategy which he had shown on a few previous occasions in his bouts prior to the UFC when clinching against the ropes Khabib would secure a body lock and then bounce and turn his opponents towards the
centre of the Ring before executing an inside or outside trip takedown.
This is
a strategy favored by Ben Askren as he demonstrates here using the fence to
secure your body lock and then rotate your opponents away from it to prevent
them from using the fence to keep balance. Once Khabib secures this he will
then use a series of inside trips outside trips or brute force lifts. Khabib would now also uses striking
much more effectively to set up these takedowns while his striking could be
described as "wild" with winging hooks lunging uppercuts and flying knees, it
serves a purpose to pressure his opponents, where if he now gets them on
the fence and committing to or defending strikes he will grab a quick double leg
takedown. And if you now attempt to negate Khabibs
pressure striking by moving forwards he will shoot for a reactive double leg
takedown. We have seen Khabib evolve from being
primarily focused on single leg shots to now being more centered around upper
body takedowns and using his striking to set up double legs.
The constant threat
of takedowns relentless mat returns and exhausting groundwork combined with
wild and continuous pressure striking can force his opponents to make bad
decisions. Like when RDA decided to shoot on Khabib in the third round setting up a
massive Hare Goshi throw. Or when Abel Trujillo chooses to clinch with
Khabib in the third round of their bout and lastly in the third round of his
bout with Michael Johnson after having successfully sprawled Johnson decides to
jump guard and go for a guillotine And that completes this breakdown of
Khabibs takedowns. I'm considering making a study of his ground game and matwork twork so
there the comment that would interest you. Peace!.
